In a world that is so big, there is so much to see and experience. One former North Harford student, Emily Cunningham, has done exactly that.

Currently, Cunningham  is living in Australia, however, in the past three years, Cunningham has been to 12 countries including Spain, Austria, and Australia. As a hobby, she writes a travel blog and takes photos of the places she’s been to.

The first time she traveled out of the country was three years ago to visit her current boyfriend, who is from the UK,  in Europe. According to Cunningham, her parents weren’t expecting this type of lifestyle from her. “I’d always been on the typical career-driven path until I started traveling. I still haven’t let go of that, but there has definitely been a priority shift,” Cunningham says.

It was in August that Cunningham left for Sydney, Australia. She traveled down the east coast for five weeks, then settled in Melbourne in October. Cunningham didn’t know what to expect but when she got to Melbourne she described it as being one of her favorite cities. “It’s so beautiful, not too far from the beach, it’s really open and doesn’t feel crowded, and everyone’s really intense about their coffee”, Cunningham explains. She plans on moving on in February.

After graduating from Towson University,  the young traveler wanted to keep seeing the world. As a college student,  Cunningham had to work hard to have the means to travel. “There aren’t many options for young Americans who want to move abroad because of visa conditions. I’m a bit worried it may start to become even harder,”  Cunningham exclaimed. She learned about the work and holiday visa, which allowed her to support her travel through temporary jobs like retail, farm work and hospitality. The visa only allowed her to go to either Australia or New Zealand.

While in Australia, Cunningham has had to acquire some jobs while living there. She had mainly short term jobs, like working in cafes and retail. She was also an intern for a small PR company. “Currently I have a stint au pairing (a foreign assistant working for a host family) in Torquay until mid-February when I set off again.”

Cunningham has explored quite a lot of Australia, including  the east coast from Cairns all the way to Melbourne. “Along the way down the east coast there are so many cool things to do and adventure travel is readily available.” Cunningham has been skydiving in Mission Beach in Queensland, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef,  river rafting and and mountain biking through a rainforest,  4-wheel-driving tour on a sand island called Fraser Island, watching fireworks go off in Brisbane, and seeing Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer practice tennis.

This isn’t the end of Cunningham’s travels, though. She plans on traveling to New Zealand in September and would like to teach English in either South East Asia or Central America. Cunningham wants to backpack through South America at some point. While she does want to travel the world more, there is still places she wants to see in the U.S. “Once you start seeing the world, it’s hard to stop,” said Cunningham.

The traveler has a blog she writes during her travels and post some photos that she takes. “I loved that I could capture the beauty of people and places in high quality”, Cunningham comments. She explains that she wants to do justice to the places she visited through her lens.